Thousands of starlings are plaguing Tyneside families in scenes straight out of Hitchcock horror movie The Birds.

Thousands of starlings are plaguing Tyneside families in scenes straight out of Hitchcock horror movie The Birds.

Everyday at twilight the sound of beating wings grows louder as flocks of birds descend on Seaton Place, Brunswick, Newcastle.

Resident Alan Wales says the constant twittering and bird droppings are making his life a misery.

Mr Wales, 70, of Seaton Place, said: "It's like a scene from The Birds; there are that many of them you can actually hear them all flapping their wings.

"It's actually quite a phenomenal sight to see them all flocking there because there are thousands of them - but it's quite sinister.

"They start to gather at about tea-time above the houses and stay there for hours just circling round and twittering. It virtually blocks out the sky.

"They keep chirping well into the night after they've settled, and I think if I didn't have double glazing it'd be horrendous. I'd never get any sleep."

Mr Wales said: "Everyone in the street is having to wash their cars twice a day because there's so much muck on them. It's impossible to put any washing out to dry when they're about because it gets filthy."

Paul Thompson, of RSPB North East, said: "It sounds like this flock has been pushed out of Newcastle by all the building work that's going on at the moment and they have found somewhere else to go.

"Starlings come to the North East in their tens of thousands in the autumn and roost in the cities because they're warmer than the countryside.

"The council's been trying a lot of measures to move the birds out of the city, but the upshot is they've moved into the suburbs. There's very little that can be done about it. Alarms or bright lights only move the problem elsewhere.

"The only advice we can give is wait till the spring and they'll move on to cooler climes."

A spokesman for North Tyneside Council said: "Although we have pest control for every other thing we've no policy to control birds, so there's very little we can do. Hopefully, they'll move on soon."